KOCHI: Kerala Birder, an internet mailing group of birdwatchers in Kerala, together with Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp Limited and Yuhina Eco-Media, a Mumbai-based organisation specialised in natural history and environment-related activities and events, will organise `Bird Race

TIKI RAJWI, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Complaints lodged by the public were not the sole reason why the State Government was forced to form a three-member committee to look into the disputes regarding land acquisition for the multi-crore Vizhinjam terminal.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Elephant owners in the State have been given a temporary reprieve. The Forest Department, through a recent Government Order, has extended the last date for the implant of microchips in captive elephants to November 15. The original deadline had expired on June 30.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM; Forest Minister Binoy Viswom has said that the Forest Department will start a potable water project for Sabarimala named

ISRO will set up 1,000 automatic weather stations (AWS) across the country within the next six months as part of its effort to collect region-specific data on weather and make need-based meteorological services available for civilian purposes. AWS is a meteorological equipment with sensors to measure rainfall, humidity, wind speed, atmospheric temperature and direction of wind. The data collected would be sent to specially-equipped centres via satellite for processing. The stations will generate data on an hourly basis.

AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on Monday urged Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to take steps to prevent the Andhra Pradesh government from going ahead with its plans to construct 10 checkdams across the Ponnaiyaru. In a statement here Ms Jayalalithaa said the Ponnaiyaru was the source of drinking water for Vellore, Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur and Thiruvannamalai districts and construction of check dams would deprive these districts of their drinking water supply. The Ponnaiyaru originates in Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh and confluences with the Palar in Thiruvalam near Vellore.

Exploited in their youth and physically abused when they are not able to work anymore, old elephants in Kerala can now look forward to a life away from the dreaded sharp hook of the mahout. The state's forest department is to launch an old-age home for elephants, the first in the country.

a new diagnostic kit can distinguish dengue from chikungunya virus faster. Developed by the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvanantha

The police dropped charges against the Kerala health minister P K Sreemathi and Sheela Shenoy, a gynaecologist on May 23, 2007. A case of culpable homicide was registered against them and others